Choosing Salt for Fermenting

There is often only three ingredients necessary in all vegetable ferments - vegetable, salt, and water (if making a brine). Because the ingredient list is so short, it is important that each ingredient be of the utmost quality.

Obviously, finding fresh organic produce should be at the top of your priority list. Once this is accomplished you need to decide what type of salt you’re going to use.

So, let’s talk about the various types of salt, what makes them different, and which ones to use and not use for vegetable fermentation.

Iodized Salt. This is your basic table salt that you can buy shockingly inexpensively from every grocery store. Most table salt is iodized meaning they have added iodine to it to increase its mineral count. The problem with this is that iodine tends to inhibit the beneficial bacteria you want in a cultured vegetable. Because of this we do not recommend using iodized salt for vegetable fermentation.

Kosher Salt. This is the second most popular salt found in most grocery stores. Kosher salt is not “kosher” itself, but is used to make meats kosher and is commonly called “koshering” salt. It is a larger crystal than the granular table salt and does not contain as many additives as table salt.

It does, however, contain sodium ferrocyanide to prevent caking, not something you want in your ferments.

Pickling Salt. This is much like your iodized table salt found above, but without the iodine and anti-caking agents. For this reason it can be used for fermenting vegetables. It is highly refined, though, so it may not be the optimal choice if you are looking for an unrefined, natural salt.

Sea Salt. Sea salts are dried from sea water. They can be refined or unrefined, but are generally safer than iodized salts. When looking for an unrefined sea salt look for specks of color, be it gray, black, pink, or red. These colors indicate that the minerals have not been refined out of them. Some natural salts may also have some moisture to them as they have not been fully dried or further refined after exiting the sea. This is definitely a type of salt to explore using if you are fermenting vegetables.

So think of salt like any other food you would put on the table, or in your ferments. You are looking for whole, unrefined, and full of natural vitamins and minerals.

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